Opera is more than percentage

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The latest Windows Secrets (Issue 275) rightly points out the small percentage of users of Opera — in the US! Opera is quite popular elsewhere, and with good reason. I live in California and have used Opera since version 2.x (now at 11.x). It rocks. I also use Chrome, sometimes Firefox and very rarely IE. Popularity has yet to equal quality when it comes to browsers, so I recommend Opera for those who are looking for an intelligent approach to the Internet.

Yes, Opera has its idiosyncrasies, but no worse than any of the others, which includes Firefox (I think it’s overrated). If I happen to have an issue with Opera, which is rare, I run Chrome. Starting with a new browser is always about learning and getting used to new ways, but it’s a pleasant surprise when the effort pays off with a feeling of finally having one that works the way you want. Some of you may find Opera just what you’ve been looking for.

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Well, I’ve been using Opera as the main browser for the past 10 years, so I am quite fond of it. But sometimes, it does not play well with certain sites, especially internet banking sites; for these I use IE.

Opera 11 is very good, and I’ve faced no major issues so far, currently using 11.01.
The buggiest version was one of the later 9.x ones…almost made me switch to FF/Chrome

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I found it very interesting that you noted online banking, as I had a huge problem with the Bank of America site a couple years ago after many years of using Opera. While using Opera 9.x the BofA site suddenly wouldn’t load properly, and I assumed they’d made code changes that were causing this. When I called support, they said they only supported IE, not even FF, and I would have to use IE. I reluctantly started doing so for about a year, and then suddenly the bill-paying page would no longer populate the payment dates. I called and was told to update to the current version of IE. I did, but it didn’t help. One day I logged on and everything worked fine. Only as I logged out did I realize that in an absent-minded stupor, I had inadvertently logged on using Opera 10.x.

So, yeah, some versions of Opera have had weird issues, but name a browser that hasn’t. There are rare issues now, and for that there’s Chrome.

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Some bank and similar sites don’t have Opera as one of their approved browsers. I like Opera but I don’t use it for banking. For better security I restart my computer and boot up on a Linux install disk, using the option where you are just trying it out, and I use the Firefox that comes with it to do my internet banking.

wmadavis

Well, I’ve been using Opera as the main browser for the past 10 years, so I am quite fond of it. But sometimes, it does not play well with certain sites, especially internet banking sites; for these I use IE.

Opera 11 is very good, and I’ve faced no major issues so far, currently using 11.01.
The buggiest version was one of the later 9.x ones…almost made me switch to FF/Chrome

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OK, I’ve never used or seen Opera. I use Firefox regularly.

Why should I switch to Opera?

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OK, I’ve never used or seen Opera. I use Firefox regularly.

Why should I switch to Opera?

I can’t give you a list of reasons. It’s my experience after 18 years using browsers that there’s no substitute for trying each one and discovering what you like and don’t like. The look and feel of one or two will seem better than the others as a result of hands on use. Different ways of getting to the same place.:)

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OK, I’ve never used or seen Opera. I use Firefox regularly.

Why should I switch to Opera?

1. It is very fast

2. The mouse gesture: hold right button+click left button, to go back 1 page, or hold left button+click right button, to go forward 1 page. That mouse gesture is Highly addictive…I cannot do without it!

3. I like that Opera has a mail client incorporated…maybe not the best mail client, but perfectly fine for my use.

I have used Opera for 10 yrs or more, and i love it. Versions 9-10 were a bit bloated compaired to earlier versions, but their newest v11.01 has addressed that & is now back!

I won’t say you should switch, but certainly give it a test run.

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I’ve been using Opera for more than 8 years. I started because of the tabbed browsing and the speed. Since other browsers have caught up and added tabbed browsing, I stay with Opera because of the newer features. I love the RSS Feeds interface and a feature I’m using more and more is Opera Unite where I can share a folder on my computer with my members by sending them a link, similar to Drop Box or You Send It all through my browser. Opera reportedly has had fewer security problems than some other browsers. And the mouse gestures are really cool.

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I’ve been an Opera user for 13 years now-back to the days when we paid for it. I agree that I do have to shift to another broweser on some banking sites. (As an IT Pro myself, I’ve raised this issue with the banking site IT Pros.) My home network has 8 computers, and all use Opera.
Opera Unite is a great tool for syncing them all. In short, “try it, you’ll like it”.

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I’m another long-time Opera user who paid for my first couple versions. I have it installed on several computers at home and at work. It has problems with some sites and it’s printing is problematic, but still I use it because it’s convenient.

I have an enormous quantity of bookmarks that Opera makes easy to manage in a pull out left sidebar. The personal bookmarks bar is heavily treed and I use constantly. I also typically have about 30 tabs open at any one time that the preview function makes convenient, some of the tabs are for my wife and son they use regularly. I like the right mouse click menu on webpages for copying addresses or images, and love the right mouse click to “paste and go” for visiting new sites.

But the biggest reason I like Opera is for the sidebar note function. For one, all of my program keys are there. When installing a new program I downloaded I can copy the key from the note. All of my family SSNs are there along with birthdays for people. I have notes about quotes that I employ frequently. I have notes about certain helpful hints. I have notes about political quotes and sources.

I adjust the viewing screen size frequently. I use the mouse shortcuts and gestures a lot. In fact, the left/right mouse button to go backwards on a website is almost automatic with me.

My alternative browsers are Chrome, Firefox and IE in that order, but I rarely use them other than to print pages that Opera screws up, or to view sites that Opera cannot render. That doesn’t happen too often but it happens.

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OK, I’ve never used or seen Opera. I use Firefox regularly.

Why should I switch to Opera?

Oh, let me count the ways!

1. Faster loading and faster running.

2. Ahead of the game. I have to laugh every time I see the promos for a new version of IE, Firefox, etc. Seems every time a new feature is touted, it’s something that Opera has already been using.

3. Mouse gestures. As mentioned before, the ‘rocking’ motion of the two mouse buttons, either to the right or to the left, takes you forward a page or backs up a page.

4. Rewind. With a single click, the rewind command will take you back to the ‘home’ page when you have traveled several pages into a web site.

5. Customizable. Opera is by far the most and easiest browser for customizing. Example: I like the tabs at the bottom of the page, near the task bar. A simple right click, choose Tab Bar Placement and I have the choice of Top, Bottom, Left and Right! Couldn’t be easier! I can also add/remove any icons or toolbars that I please.

6. Opera has always had the best “Download” feature, allowing me to Start, Stop and Resume downloads whenever I need to.

7. A feature that I use a lot is “Search within page”. All I do is press the slash key (or period key) and type the word I’m looking for . . . don’t even touch the mouse! Then, F3 takes me to every occurrence of the word on that page. If I go to another page, F3 resumes the same search again!

8. Not sure if any other browsers have the “Notes” feature. It lets me highlight a word, sentence, paragraph, etc., from a web page and save it as a note. Later, if I need to go back to the original site, I just double-click on the note and Opera takes me right back to the web page it was copied from.

9. I also use Firefox, but do not like having to wait for “extension” and “add-on” updates every time Firefox comes out with a new version. Opera has most all of these “extensions, etc.” built-in and when a new version of Opera is released, “everything just works”.

10. Opera Unite is a great feature that I use a lot. With it, I can share files of any size, to anyone I choose, without any uploading at all!

11. I could go on and on, but I’m running out of space!

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Alphawave, you nailed it! A few of the features that I love that you didn’t have space to mention:

1) Right-clicking on a misspelled word, and having a list of choices pop up. Just choose one and it’s automatically inserted.

2) Let’s not forget the hundreds of skins, allowing one to find the button styles and layouts of their choice. And once you find that perfect look, you can change the overall color scheme as well. Sweet!

3) Speed Dial is a handy way to see your most used faves with thumbnails.

4) Opera Turbo, with an automatic network speed gauge. Only uses it when needed.

5) One can have endless tabs open, and merely hover over them to see a large thumbnail of the page.

6) The choice to open Opera with your saved sessions or from your last session.

Opera sometimes has compatibility issues ( you can even have Opera “mask” itself as IE or FF… sometimes it works/sometimes not), but I’ll deal with that to gain it’s best feature- security!

I’m torn: I want Opera to succeed, but I also like that they’re under the radar for security reasons.[/SIZE][/SIZE][/SIZE][/SIZE]

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But wait!–there’s more! Opera not only matches any other browser in basic function, but it also contains one of the best email clients I’ve ever seen, certainly as good as GMail’s and far less finicky than Outlook. Somebody else mentioned synchronizing Opera across several computers, but Chrome does that at least as well.

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I to have used since the day of paying for it. As has been stated a few sites will not load properly in it. For those I use FF. Also when trying to copy and paste a lot of text and graphics I find Opera will only do text with all graphics having to be inserted in document separately ( 1 at a time) I find this irksome but not a real hassle, pop into FF for this and back to the best browser you can find [Opera]

One of the best features (IMHO) is the duplicate (now) clone tab.

If you have a web page open and what to keep the info there for quick reference but need to follow a link on the page or go back a couple of pages. Just right click the tab and click onto clone. You now have two identical pages where you can go forwards or backwards.

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I used Opera for long time, but a few years ago they had a series of buggy releases, so I switched to FF. Losing the built in mail didn’t bother me because I prefer running separate clients for mail & usenet.

IMO the IE Tab Plus extension is the best thing about FF. From what ddferrari has written it sounds the Opera equivalent is defective. I often switch back and forth between Gecko & Trident. IE Tab Plus just works, it had a few problems in its early releases but its been rock solid for years.

Does Opera have a split window facility (like Notepad++ & Visual Studio). Opera did say they were working on it, but I waited and waited and it never arrived, has it been done yet? I was hoping to see it in FF4, but I won’t. I want the ability to have multiple panes within the client window, each with its own tabs, that I can view simultaneously. I’ve found the the FF extensions that claim to do it unsatisfactory.

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